Just take a glance at Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Twitter campaign soliciting questions about public policy. The mayor tweets that he’ll respond to those questions in one of his regular video address (posted on YouTube, naturally).

So the latest #askgavin topic was jobs. OK, we get it — employment is stagnant, the economy is tepid, he’s running for lieutenant governor on a platform of bolstering the economy and environment by promoting green sector business growth. It sounds, well, topical.

But of all the tweets that came in, a grand total of … (drum roll) … two actually had a question dealing with the topic. The rest fluctuated from the fawning to the profane:

– When will you become president of the universe?

– Are there any plans for a GN action figure?

– When Supervisor Daly brought it up, why did you dodge questions about your cocaine use?

– Why did you bang your campaign managers wife?

– I heard your nipples were the size of sand dollars, Mr. Mayor. Do you care to comment?

Honestly, you can’t make this stuff up. There was even one we can’t reprint here because of the sexual content. But here’s a hint. It had the “hash tag” #sexualharassmentofhotmayors.

To be fair, the discourse was much more dignified on Facebook, where Newsom recently had 117 comments on the same topic, most of them legitimate questions.

So does that mean Facebook is more sophisticated than Twitter? Perhaps. Or maybe it just means that it doesn’t make much sense to solicit policy questions in a 140-character-limit medium that people use to tout Miley Cyrus as “perfect for ‘Saturday Night Live.'”

Newsom’s camp defended the practice as a “useful way to engage the public.” You simply have to cull through the chaff to get to the substance.

“That’s the nature of the online world,” Newsom campaign advisor Dan Newman said. “People go to great lengths to exercise their creativity and utilize their first amendment right to express themselves, which results in a certain amount of colorful, off-topic comments and questions. … It’s worth if for a greater dialogue with the public.”